TOKYO – Japanese carmaker Toyota will postpone the operations of the plant, currently under construction in the Mexican state of Guanajuato, to 2020, Japanese newspaper Nikkei said on Thursday.

The company will carry out necessary changes in the factory, where the Tacoma truck model will be manufactured, instead of the Corolla as earlier planned.

Toyota will change the production model, the sizes and lengths of the loading platforms and other structures – due to the two models having different sizes – apart from dealing with auto parts suppliers, Nikkei said.

The company has not yet confirmed the changes; Toyota’s spokesperson told EFE that this was not an official announcement.

The Japanese manufacturer announced on Friday its plans to transfer the production of Corolla from Guanajuato, in central Mexico, to a plant which will be jointly constructed in the United States with Mazda Motors, and will begin operating in 2021 with an annual production capacity of 300,000 vehicles.

Toyota’s plan to manufacture the Corolla, the second best-selling compact sedan in the US, in Mexico, was met with US President Donald Trump’s threat on Twitter to increase border taxes on the company and other manufacturers.

Toyota said that the change of plan announced last week would not have a big impact on its investment and employment generation plan at the Mexican plant which was originally scheduled to start operating in 2019.

Enter your email address to subscribe to free headlines (and great cartoons so every email has a happy ending!) from the Latin American Herald Tribune: